Former minister Chris Cardona spoke about attempts to frame him for murder as he testified in the Daphne Caruana Galizia public inquiry on Friday.
Dismissing claims that he had any knowledge of the journalist's murder, Cardona said he will one day speak about an anonymous letter which tried to pin the assassination on him.
During a three-hour grilling, hardly any reference was made to Caruana Galizia's story that he had visited a brothel in Germany while on government business. That claim had prompted Cardona to have the journalist's bank accounts frozen, as part of a series of libel cases he filed against her.
The public inquiry is meant to establish whether the state could have done anything to prevent the assassination of the 53-year-old journalist in 2017.
Highlights from Cardona's intervention:
- Described a letter linking him to Caruana Galizia’s murder as a ‘frame-up’ but refused to name who he suspects was behind it. Said he will speak about it at the opportune moment;
- Denied any contact with individuals like the Degiorgio brothers and the Tal-Maksar brothers;
- Expressed relief that he is no longer under the media gaze;
- Dismissed reports that he attempted suicide;
- Said due diligence had flagged that not all was well with two of Vitals’ directors;
- Said Konrad Mizzi assumed full responsibility for hospitals and energy projects;
- Said he filed a garnishee order against Caruana Galizia against his lawyers’ advice;
- Recalled being upset when Caruana Galizia referred to him as 'dirt' and a drug addict;
- Dismissed claims of a kitchen cabinet.
Testimony ends
12.35pm And after three hours of testimony, and quick-fire questions, Cardona steps off the podium. The next sitting is on Monday with police commissioner Angelo Gafa.
We'll be back shortly with the highlights of Friday's sitting.
When Muscat fainted
12.25pm Azzopardi asks about the time Joseph Muscat had fainted while attending an event at Le Meridien two days before Caruana Galizia's murder.
Cardona: "Yes, it was a Saturday. The prime minister was meant to give a speech. I had assisted him. Later, it resulted that he had not eaten anything."
Azzopardi: "Why was it kept secret?"
Cardona: "I don't know."
He denies that Alfred Degiorgio's (il-Fulu) sister went to him in connection with a licence, and also denies visiting the Marsa potato shed, adding he did not even know where they were located.
Azzopardi asks if he sent a message to Yorgen Fenech in early 2019 to meet for lunch.
The former minister confirms he did.
He confirms that a job was given to il-Fulu's daughter, but says he got to know about it later. She is a university student and worked one summer with a government entity.
Cardona says he has not met with Keith Schembri for a year or so.
There were no problems between the two, there have "normal issues" that could be tweaked, he adds.
Contacts with reputed criminals
12.20pm Lawyer and MP Jason Azzopardi fields questions. He asks when he decided to take on the Degiorgios as clients.
"Never," he replies.
Cardona says he once assisted Vincent Muscat (il-Koħħu) during a bail hearing around 2010.
Azzopardi: "And tal-Maksar?" (named as alleged bomb makers)
Cardona: "I know one them, Adrian, by sight."
Azzopardi: "Toni l-Biglee?"
Cardona: "He (Anthony Chetcuti) was a former police officer, part of Special Assignment Group set up by Guido de Marco. He was selected as security to Pope and Angela Merkel during their visit to Malta. He had joined his team after leaving police force and also switched political allegiance."
Azzopardi: "Did you ever meet the Degiorgios?"
Cardona: "No," he replies, adding that he denied claims that Degiorgio went to his ministry.
The Degiorgio brothers and Vince Muscat (right), who stand charged with sparking off the device.'I’m no longer the terror I was made out to be'
12.15pm Comodini Cachia takes him back to an interview on TVM where he said that journalists were conspiring against him to implicate him in the crime.
"Yes, I was right to say so," referring to secret footage by a French journalist who recorded a bar-goer claiming he saw Cardona meeting with one of the men charged with killing Caruana Galizia.
"I have a full file of media reports here. The last time I was targeted by media was some eight months ago. Ever since I was no longer a minister, they forgot about me. I’m no longer the terror I was made out to be."
He says he had planned to resign as Labour deputy leader shortly after dropping his ministerial office. He says the attacks were still coming on a daily basis and it was not on for a government to be shackled by such a member facing such stories.
"So finally I chose to exit politics completely. My decision to leave was taken long before the leadership election."
The tampered letter
12.10pm Asked about the fortnight he suspended himself from ministerial role, he says that he was reintegrated into the group soon after.
At a parliamentary group meeting in Girgenti, Joseph Muscat informed the group that Cardona was being reintegrated and that police had told him that had been excluded from investigations.
"That was a relief for me."
Cardona repeats that he has his own suspicions about the frame up.
"All we is have is that the letter was taken by a doctor to someone. There is obviously the type of print, and so on, but the letter was tampered with. Incredible, with such a document."
Background: During a late night cabinet meeting in December, ministers heard from investigators who detailed how a typed note had allegedly been passed on to Yorgen Fenech while in police custody directing him to pin the murder on Cardona and providing details of how this should be done.
The letter was alleged to have been passed on to him by doctor Adrian Vella.
'Hearsay is not evidence'
12pm Cardona says that the letter which attempted to link him to Caruana Galizia's murder was "clearly an attempted frame-up."
"How could I know who wrote it? I never saw those letters. Not even the police showed them to me. They told me their suspicions. But there’s a difference between what one thinks and what the reality is."
Judge Lofaro piles pressure and asks why he did not take steps to clear his name.
"This allegation that you are the mastermind of the murder, is much more serious than the Acapulco (brothel) affair in my view?"
Cardona: "Perhaps at the opportune time I will. I don’t want to disturb the police investigation. I don’t have information. But gossip and hearsay is not evidence. And there were rumours spread by persons who are in this hall."
The former minister repeats it for emphasis.
Dismisses attempted suicide report
11.50am Cardona confirms he had been summoned by magistrate on the day of Caruana Galizia's murder.
"Yes, I was summoned along with others. But meanwhile, the family raised objection and the magistrate was changed. I was never summoned again."
He recalls how he was once called by former police chief Lawrence Cutajar late in 2019 saying the police wanted to speak to him.
"I was questioned by investigating officers. Now I know it was because of that letter. At the time they hadn't told me."
Cardona says he would block phone numbers of those who would call repeatedly.
"I probably anticipated it was Daphne because the number called at the time of some story. Same happened with 101 media. They would call and take your comments on air."
He recalls that he was once having lunch with third parties when Caruana Galizia approached him to ask where he was living.
Referring to allegations that his number had been found on the burner phone of one of the Degiorgio brothers (who is accused of carrying out the murder), Cardona says he did not wish to file another libel.
"After the Daphne libels I swore I would not file another one. It’s too much, ending up again under the media spotlight and so on. As for allegations about my alleged attempted suicide I told (Chris) Peregin (of LovinMalta) to prove it if he had documents in hand."
Daphne's criticism
11.45am Comodini Cachia asks about Cardona's interview with Times of Malta in June where he had said that any critic of government had to be watched.
He says Caruana Galizia's blogs were on one hand, attacks or criticism of the administration. Those writings kept the government wary. Any government needs to give due attention to something like that. And Caruana Galizia did that continuously and regularly, he concedes.
Comodini Cachia: "Did the government take decisions as to how handle her criticism? Whether to name her in press releases?"
Cardona: "No, there were no decisions about that."
Comodini Cachia: "And to put her face on a pre-election billboard?"
Cardona: "That would be taken by campaign strategy team."
Comodini Cachia: "Would that include Keith Schembri?"
Cardona: "I wasn't involved and would not know."
Not all was well Vitals' shareholders
11.38am Comodini Cachia asks about Malta Enterprise's decision to do no further work for the government on the Vitals case.
Cardona: "Yes, the due diligence done on Vitals was not good, so I ordered Malta Enterprise to stop and no longer handle the project. The due diligence company had flagged the matter and the OPM was informed. The due diligence firm had flagged that all was not well with two of the directors."
Comodini Cachia: "So you signed the MOUs but did not take part in negotiations?"
He says he had signed MOU for the health ministry or the education ministry. Then that ministry would proceed with negotiations. Other MOUs signed with private entities allowed government with elbow space to manoeuvre. That would allow the government to retract in case things did not go well.
Asked if in case of the Vitals MOU, it was Chris Fearne who had handled negotiations, Cardona replies: "No, it was Konrad Mizzi."
Judge Said Pullicino intervenes: "It's amazing how all such projects ended up under Konrad Mizzi. He wasn’t an expert in health nor energy and yet he got those projects."
Cardona: "That's the prerogative of the prime minister."
Cardona says he believed at the time that Mizzi's involvement in the Panama Papers was a "mediocre error" and that's why he thought he should retain his place in government.
When Muscat sent for his MPs individually to discuss, the focus was on Mizzi and not Schembri.
Muscat feels betrayed
11.20am The former minister says there are people who choose to take matters in their own hands rather than resolve them in court.
Asked if he felt Muscat had been betrayed, Cardona replies: "Yes. I still meet the ex-prime minister and I sense his grievances."
He is asked if he had stayed at a flat at Portomaso, owned by the Tumas Group.
"Yes, when I had marital problems. It was fixed by Silvan Fenech, Yorgen's cousin. And I paid commercial rent. Today I live with my wife."
Comodini Cachia stands up for her cross-examination and asks who had committed the big mistakes he referred to earlier in his testimony.
"Collective ministerial responsibility is a different matter. Whoever erred unilaterally must pay for it unilaterally. Collective responsibility is something we learnt in the early years at university.
"I read stories in the media and keep myself informed but I won’t utter any statement until there is a court decision. Of course I won't."
Comodini Cachia repeats the question: "I’m not talking about criminal matters but political."
Cardona: "Opening a Panama account was a big political mistake, it was a complete misjudgment of a family decision. And also of the person who opened that account. And those were not the only mistakes, there were others. Yes we must acknowledge that politicians also commit mistakes."
Judge Lofaro intervenes: "And judges too, and go to jail too!"
Joseph Muscat pictured in late 2019.'I have no information about the murder'
11.11am Cardona turns to the letter claiming that he had commissioned the crime.
It was sent to someone who had scribbled on it and sent it back. It was found at Yorgen Fenech's apartment. During the cabinet meeting, ministers asked police to send letter for forensic testing. But they were told that it could not, because the letter had been tampered with.
Cardona says he asked police to investigate the case, to see who came up with the plan and who wrote the letter.
"I’m told the investigation is still ongoing. I don’t know who wrote this letter, I cannot tell. Of course I have my own theories as to who wrote it and sent it. But whoever did it did not hesitate to implicate a minister."
There were many allegations about me, that I put gun in my mouth, and all the rest. But not one was proved
The board asks him if he felt it had contributed to Joseph Muscat's resignation.
"No. The prime minister gave his reasons for the resignation. It was the situation in the country. He said he would assume responsibility for the acts of others," Cardona says, adding that he had absolutely no information about the murder.
"There were many allegations about me, that I put gun in my mouth, and all the rest. But not one was proved."
Faced with such claims and the fact he had been in politics for a long time, he decided to step down.
Garnishee was filed against lawyers' advice
11.05am Asked about the day of the murder in October 2017, Cardona says that on the way from an event at the Sliema ferries, he read breaking news of a car bomb at Bidnija. By the time he got to his office, around 4pm, he was told Caruana Galizia had been killed.
"It was an enormous shock. I’m a father, a brother too."
At the time, Cardona had instituted several libel suits against Caruana Galizia.
"It was first time there was a garnishee order. I did that against advice of my lawyers. I wanted it because of the proportionality of it all."
Background: The €47,460 garnishee order was placed by Cardona and his EU presidency policy officer, Joseph Gerada after the blogger said they had attended a brothel in Germany while on government work.
He says that Joseph Muscat had later told him that he was being mentioned in connection with the murder. That was days before the infamous late night cabinet meeting at Castille.
"I told him that it was something very grave and I told him I would self suspend. And that’s what I did," he says, pointing out he was absent from that cabinet meeting last December.
'Daphne murder was macabre and brutal'
10.55am Questions turn to Daphne Caruana Galizia.
Cardona says he had no relationship with her and never spoke to her.
"If she called I would have ignored it. I was one of those she wrote most about.
He says that the blogger's murder was macabre and brutal.
Daphne Caruana Galizia. Photo: Pippa Zammit Cutajar"In my respect she only saw negativity. She labeled me as a junkie, dirt, ignorant, portrayed me as Scarface with drugs all around. And it wasn’t nice, having teenage kids going to school and having to face comments about their father.
"She was a populist. Daphne wanted to attract readership and to do that one doesn’t write about Antolisei (an Italian jurist).
"Her English was impeccable. No one could equal her writing skills. But that did not justify the stories she wrote."
The judges point out that other prominent individuals were in Caruana Galizia's line of fire.
Cardona replies: "It's one thing to call Fenech Adami a village lawyer and another to label a lawyer a drug addict".
'I don't think it was a free vote'
10.45am Judge Joseph Said Pullicino says the power station project might have had a "nasty element" to it, with a whiff of collusion.
"There are problems in every administration. But these large projects all seem to be tainted by the same element."
Asked if he participated in the vote of confidence in Mizzi in the wake of the Panama Papers scandal, Cardona says he did.
"I don’t think it was a free vote but I always voted along party lines. Had I not agreed I would have left. I could have resigned and held on to my seat. No one could take that from me."
Mizzi fronted the energy shift
10.40am Cardona says he knew an early elections was going to be held in 2017, just days before the announcement.
There were surveys showing that Labour was going to win by a comfortable margin but there were protests and the economy was suffering.
As for the secret company Egrant, Muscat had said he would resign if anything was found linking it to him or his wife. The same challenge had not been taken up by leader of opposition, he says.
Turning the clock back, Cardona says he had no idea that Konrad Mizzi was venturing into politics.
At the Electrogas presentation, Cardona felt it was Mizzi who was fronting the Labour Party's shift to clean energy.
"Then I found out that he was contesting the election later. Konrad Mizzi had used info graphics at the time and he was alone, not assisted by experts. I was surprised that shadow minister for energy (Joe Mizzi) was not in attendance."
Cardona says there was great pressure on Mizzi to deliver the project within six months.
'I never saw Fenech'
10.35am The focus turns to the WhatsApp chat group between Yorgen Fenech, Joseph Muscat and Keith Schembri.
Cardona says he was not aware of Muscat's close relationship with Fenech, but he strongly denies suggestions that the businessman was seen at Auberge de Castille.
"I was at Castille every day but I never saw him."
Background: Police questioned Keith Schembri on Wednesday about "two large volumes" of WhatsApp messages with Yorgen Fenech, including exchanges in a group that included Muscat.
The chats all took place between January and October 2019, when Muscat first left the group and Schembri followed two days later.
Tax evasion one thing, money laundering another
10.30am At time of Panama Papers, Mizzi and Schembri reacted, and the line of defence was that it was a politically naive decision and there were no criminal or malicious intentions. Did Cardona believe them?
"Yes. But I could not understand the reasoning. I thought it absurd for someone who passed through all that to do something again. And those were not the first leaks. We had Swiss leaks and so on."
The judges hit back: tax evasion is one thing, money laundering is another.
Schembri was 'indispensable'
10.25am Cardona says he had no interference from Keith Schembri.
"I would discuss with him and he intervened in a positive manner when I sought his help. His power was proportional to his role in office. He was indispensable."
Cardona says he disagrees with claims that Schembri had too much power.
"He acted as chief of staff. Others before him had this function as intermediary, facilitator. The chief of staff is more of an interlocutor, involved in solving any problems, possibly roping in other officials. His role is pivotal. It’s vital in important decision-making not day-to-day running."
Keith Schembri and Chris Cardona.Agreed that Mizzi, Schembri should stay
10.20am Judge Mallia points out that certain allegations are worrying and asks about the promoters of Electrogas and secret company 17 Black. Did he know about these?
"No, we didn't."
Regarding the Panama Papers revelations, Cardona admits that he first agreed with Joseph Muscat that Konrad Mizzi and Keith Schembri were to be retained pending investigations.
"I told the prime minister that he shouldn't disturb anything... But the story returned to haunt government. It harmed the government and the country. At some new project launch, journalists would ask about that."
The judge describes it as the albatross around the government’s neck.
"Yes," Cardona agrees. "It was problematic."
No kitchen cabinet
10.14am Asked about the so-called kitchen cabinet cited by his former colleagues, Cardona said he was surprised to read about it in the media.
"There was no mention of kitchen cabinets at the time. When Joseph Muscat announced projects everyone applauded. No one brought up kitchen cabinets. It's convenient to bring it up now. It did not exist, formally and informally."
Asked if those who made reference to the 'kitchen cabinet' could have felt sidelined, he replies: "Yes, possibly."
"As for other allegations on certain projects, with hindsight yes, they could have been handled better. Slight mistakes went by. But those who made bigger mistakes ought to answer for what they did.
"There was inter ministerial dialogue. But cabinet followed a strict agenda and decisions were taken by all, a collective decision," Cardona explains.
'It was in Konrad's hands'
10.10am Asked about Electrogas deal, Cardona says he does not know if there was an MOU.
He insists that the project was not tailored by him. It was clear that Konrad Mizzi was behind it, he tells the board.
Cardona says the Electrogas project was intended to cut down on tariffs but then issues began to emerge in the media.
"There was a presentation about the project at cabinet level and that’s all. It was in Konrad Mizzi's hands."
Cardona says he had testified about Vitals before the National Audit Office, and says he has no problem doing so again if summoned before the magisterial inquiry.
"I will answer to whatever you ask me," he says assertively.
Government's tasks
10am Cardona is giving a rundown of his career, detailing his parliamentary stints and tasks while in government.
Asked about the controversial Vitals project, he says that it was led by entities outside his ministry even though he signed the memorandum of understanding.
He says that he signed 15 MOUs with foreign entities.
He says that Malta Enterprise was under his remit all throughout his tenure as minister, but not Projects Malta.
Terms of reference
9.45am We're off. Cardona takes the stand and the oath. He is assisted by lawyer Jonathan Attard. The three judges point out that certain questions to be put to the witness might go beyond the terms of reference. Comodini Cachia says that she will leave it in the board’s hands. Cardona says he wants to answer all the board's questions.
Good morning
9.35am Lawyers have gathered in Hall 20 of the court, this is the one where the constitutional court and the superior court of appeal sittings normally take place. Peter Caruana Galizia and the journalist's two sisters are among those in the room.
Chris Cardona waits outside the hall.
Chris Cardona (right) walking into court with lawyer Jonathan Cardona. Photo: Mark Zammit Cordina